The guide and accompanying bench card were informed by a May 2017 convening of judges, psychiatrists, people who have behavioral health needs and have been in the justice system, and family members who came together to discuss behavioral health care resources and decision making around conditions of release and sentencing.

The resulting judicial guide highlights the importance of recognizing a person’s behavioral health needs, identifying the behavioral health resources available in a community, and collaborating with community-based providers to facilitate treatment referrals in order to improve public health and safety and support individual recovery. The guide’s accompanying bench card lists considerations for judicial decision-making when setting conditions of release and sentencing defendants with behavioral health needs, including a list of “do’s and don’ts” and tips at different points of judicial contact.

The judicial guide and bench card were developed with the support of the American Psychiatric Association Foundation.

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JPLI aims to stimulate, support, and enhance efforts by judges and psychiatrists to improve judicial, community, and systemic responses to people with behavioral health needs who are involved in the justice system by:

Creating a community of judges and psychiatrists through web-based and in-person trainings, and the development and distribution of a newsletter to judges and psychiatrists;

Increasing the reach of trainings in order to build the non-clinical skills of court professionals, which will help improve individual and public safety outcomes;

Developing educational resources to increase judges’ and psychiatrists’ understanding of the latest research and best practices for people with mental illnesses involved in the justice system.

This website is funded in part through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs,
U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components
operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without
limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).